Confusion
by Kelsey
Summary: Clark finds Lex with another man, and finds that it affects him in a way he couldn't predict. NOT CLex, though.


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Confusion

by

Kelsey

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Disclaimer: Not mine. However, I'm fairly sure you already knew that.

Summary: Clark finds Lex with another man and is surprised to discover some hidden feelings of his own. NOT CLex.

Rating: G

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"Lex!" Clark looked around the door, peering into the lobby of the castle. "Lex!"

When no answer was forthcoming, he scanned the room quickly with his normal sight, then switched to x-ray vision. Catching a glimpse of a skeleton in the next room, he noticed another skeleton was holding it down, and drew in a quick breath of panic.

"Lex!"

Dashing from one room into the next, Clark skidded to a stop at the sight that met him. Bent backwards over the desk, Lex was pinned on top of all his work papers by a burly man who was ripping at his clothes and kissing him hotly. Lex was ripping off the man's tie and returning the kiss with a hunger Clark had never seen before.

Blushing, Clark dashed away again before he could do any damage, but he was forced to move at human speed, and apparently it wasn't fast enough.

Evidently, Lex wasn't so caught up in the kiss that he didn't notice his young friend having stood in the doorway for a long moment before retreating, clearly shocked. Disentangling himself from his lover, he stalked into the living room, looking for the farmboy. "Clark!"

Coming to a sudden stop in the front doorway, almost out of the castle, Clark didn't turn around, blushing too hard to even consider such an action. "Yes?"

"Did you see that?"

Nodding reluctantly, Clark waited a moment for his best friend to continue.

"Did it bother you?"

Surprised, Clark turned around and shook his head. "No. I'm just..."

"Surprised?"

"Yeah."

"It's okay. That probably wasn't a sight you see everyday in rural Smallville, Kansas."

Clark shook his head again, a little ghost of a smile on his face. "No."

Seeming truly concerned with this, Lex walked towards Clark until he was close enough to put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. "Is this okay with you, Clark? Because we can talk about it if you have questions or anything. I don't want to lose your friendship."

Clark shrugged. "I guess... I guess I have questions... but I'm not really sure what they are," He admitted.

Lex smiled. "Okay. How about we sit down and just chat a little, then?"

Clark shook his head quickly at that. "No! No, I have to get back... and I know I interrupted you..."

Lex met his eyes firmly. "Clark. Just for a few minutes?"

Hesitating, eventually Clark nodded and followed Lex to the couch, sitting down across from him. Sitting in silence for a moment, eventually the question he was dying to ask just burst out of him. "What about Victoria?"

Lex smiled. "What about her?" He was pretty sure he knew what Clark was asking, but he wanted to make sure.

"I mean... she was a woman and all... and I assume you slept with her..."

"And now you're wondering what's up with that?"

Clark nodded.

Lex shrugged. "It's pretty simple, actually. I'm just not too picky. And besides, it's not like I ever fuck anybody in the context of a relationship." He looked vaguely sad at this. "They're just... entertainment. I get something out of it, they get something out of it, we all go home afterwards." He shook his head. "But that's more than you needed to know."

Sitting silently for a few moments, Lex waited to see if Clark would speak any more. The farmboy had something on his mind, that much Lex could see, but he was clearly reluctant to speak about it.

"Lex, do you flirt with me?"

Lex blinked. Of all the things he was wondering if Clark would ask, from mildly graphic to totally embarrassing, that was not one of them. Most of the time, Clark seemed fairly dense when it came to emotions, and he was pretty sure his subtle flirting had slipped under the radar.

At least until now.

Slowly, he nodded, finding for once, the truth to be the best policy to employ. "Yeah, Clark, I guess I do."

"But I'm not... I'm not..."

"Not gay?"

Clark nodded.

Lex shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It's just a little harmless playing around, not like I expected to do anything about it. You're fifteen, anyway."

Clark nodded again, a little dumbstruck.

"I'll stop if you want."

Clark shrugged a little, clearly too lost in his mind to think about what was going on in the real world. "I...I think I'd better go."

Lex nodded and stood. "Okay. But if you have questions... ask me about them, don't let them fester in that complicated head of yours, okay?"

Nodding, Clark took off out the door.

Lex sighed, hoping that this secret wouldn't cost him his friendship with the best friend he'd had in... well, ever.

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Clark had been wandering the town for a while, not quite sure what to do. The fact that Lex was clearly bisexual didn't really bother him, but the fact that he'd been flirting with him was maybe... a little unsettling. He didn't mind, exactly, but he was wondering... about something. Something he couldn't quite put a handle on.

Finding himself at the school, he wondered how he'd managed to get here. It appeared deserted, though, and he was about to leave when he heard the distinctive _thunk_ of a basketball on the concrete. The hoops for playing at lunch and break were on the other side of the building, and he didn't think it would hurt to go see if there was a game he could join in. It might keep his occupied for a little while, at any rate.

Surprisingly, when he rounded the building, there was only one person there. Whitney, shooting hoops at the basket, dribbling the ball now and then, mostly just looking bored. 

"Hey, Whitney!" Clark called out, and Whitney caught the ball he'd just tossed through the hoop, and wandered over to see him.

"Hey, Kent."

"Bored?"

"As hell."

"Want to play a little one-on-one?"

Whitney's eyebrows went up rapidly. "Sure. But I'm going kick your ass so bad, Kent."

Clark raised him eyebrows in response to the challenge, and nodded. "Sure, Fordman. We'll see."

True to his word, Whitney won the first game. Careful to rein in his superpowers, Clark won the second and the third, though, letting Whitney win the final game of the evening.

"Guess it's a tie, then," Whitney told him as he tossed him the water bottle, wiping sweat from his forehead with his shirt-sleeve. "You're good, Kent. You should try out for the team."

Shrugging, Clark replied noncommittally. "Maybe."

Motioning towards a bench on the side of the concrete, Whitney headed off to sit down, and Clark followed him. After sitting in companionable silence for a few long moments, Clark fidgeted a little, and looked over at the quarterback. "Whitney?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you think of Lex Luthor?"

Whitney shrugged. "Lots of people don't like him. I don't have any bones to pick, though, he's always been good to me."

Clark nodded. "Can I ask you something?"

Whitney looked at him, intrigued. "Sure."

"Can... can we keep this just between us?"

Whitney nodded slowly, even more intrigued at this point. "Yeah, Kent, we can do that. What do you need advice with?"

Clark fidgeted a little more. "I found out today... that Lex is gay. Or at least, bi."

Whitney put up an eyebrow, but just shrugged. "Yeah?"

"And... and I asked him if he's been flirting with me..." Clark trailed off.

"What'd he say?"

"He said yes."

Whitney just looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"And I don't think I minded."

"You like Lex?"

"Yeah! But not... not like that. But I think... I think I might like other men."

Whitney shrugged. "It's cool. Nothing wrong with that."

Clark was the one to raise an eyebrow now. "I'm pretty sure you're of a minority of people who would say that in Kansas, Whitney."

Whitney looked at the freshman farmboy, and then looked away, speaking towards the court instead of to Clark's face. "This privacy thing, it goes both ways, okay?"

Clark nodded. "Sure."

Whitney met his eyes again, and took a deep breath before letting it out. "I've... kind of been there, Clark."

"Confused?"

Whitney nodded.

"What did you decide?"

"That this isn't a good state to be confused in." Whitney's tone was bitter, and Clark wondered about the story behind the words, but didn't ask.

They sat in silence for a few long moments, then Whitney abruptly stood. "I've got to go. Good seeing you, Kent."

Clark nodded. "Yeah. Um... Whitney?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you some more, sometime?"

Whitney thought about it for a second, then nodded slowly. "Sure. Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what?"

"Why did you come talk to me about this?"

"Well, I couldn't really talk to anyone else. I mean, mom and dad already hate Lex enough as it is, Pete does too, and anything I tell Chloe would probably get back to Pete. That leaves you and Lana. And I do still kind of like Lana..."

"So it left me."

Clark nodded.

Whitney seemed to digest that information for a few minutes, than smiled. "Glad to have been able to help. And come talk to me whenever you want, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, Whitney."


End file.
